Hi Vince. My only suggestion may not be possible, since it might not be a transparent function, but it would be nice if the upcoming iDSD Micro would mute briefly while changing formats. The iDSD Nano has some digital noise, or grunge, if you will, when switching formats. It may be harmless, but I always find myself turning the volume down out of paranoia every time I switch formats.

Hi Vince. My only suggestion may not be possible, since it might not be a transparent function, but it would be nice if the upcoming iDSD Micro would mute briefly while changing formats. The iDSD Nano has some digital noise, or grunge, if you will, when switching formats. It may be harmless, but I always find myself turning the volume down out of paranoia every time I switch formats.

Thanks!

Andrew B.

Hi Andrew B,

This is more related at the computer side because the grunge is more pronounced with Win than OS X. We are looking into how we can (if at all possible to mute in between switching tracks).

Unlikely to totally eliminated because it may lead to a longer sonic path. Will keep analysing though.

Going through the thread, I have realised that an important point has been missed.

Though many would like this to be an all-singing/all dancing device, this is not supposed to be sen in the same vein as the mega portable DAC/amps such as CEntrance HiFi-M8, CypherLabs Theorem 720, or Chord Hugo.

Remember the name of the product? micro iDSD? As in 'micro'?

This device will be small, portable and transportable, so let's focus on reasonable features that utilise this.

For me, the most important part is the USB input noise reduction, and to include something like the iPurifier inbuilt into the micro iDSD.

I trust, strongly, the technical R&D chops of the designers/engineers, so I hope the features that has already been decided on will work out greatly.

Since most of the suggestion on hardware has been mentioned, I'll suggest a look into the software. Perhaps a more advanced driver control panel with customizable setting or even some dedicated plug-in for some of the popular playback software.

Since most of the suggestion on hardware has been mentioned, I'll suggest a look into the software. Perhaps a more advanced driver control panel with customizable setting or even some dedicated plug-in for some of the popular playback software.

I was thinking the same thing. When I owned the nano iDSD, I noticed that there was no software volume control via the apple midi controller. Can this be allowed in the micro and later, the mini?

I agree with this as well. I know that currently there is a manual analog volume control, but is it possible to have an analog volume control that is digitally controlled by the operating system. There is at least one competing product that does just this.

Note I am in no way advocating a digital volume control. It absolutely must be kept analog. But a digitally controlled analog volume control would be wonderful. So when I am listening across the room I don't have to get up and change the volume manually. I could then just do it via Jremote.

Andrew

Quote:

Originally Posted by kugino

I was thinking the same thing. When I owned the nano iDSD, I noticed that there was no software volume control via the apple midi controller. Can this be allowed in the micro and later, the mini?

I believe digital volume is usually enable or disable via the USB receiver chip. Depends on the chip itself, some are hard coded and not easy to change from the USB side. But it will be nice if can be a selectable feature.

Shared my design to iFi long ago even before discovering this thread (was told by Vincent @ iFi - Audio to share it here) so some of them may or may not have been mentioned already but it was all based on the features I wanted and what some high end DAC seem to offer xDWarning: Spoiler!(Click to show)

The basic, realistic and modern design of iFi Audio products is a great head start and it just looks sleek anywhere you it at and from every angle. To me and to the iFi Audio company as well, I believe, it represents the signature of iFi Audio. Thus, I would prefer the same design applied to the future micro iDSD. It is also the high durability of iFi Audio products that makes what iFi Audio is now!

It would be interesting to see something that is better, in terms of sound quality than the iFi iDAC. It wouldn't be nice to see iDSD as the same sound quality as iDAC with support for higher music resolution thought that comes equally important. Also keep in mind that, we like to 3D switch so keep it there, same goes to the " Asynchronous USB transfer ". I can also see an increasing amount of bassheads but please, do not make the overall sound signature of iFi Audio micro iDSD to be bassy though. It would be nice to add a bass switch like what iFi Audio did to the iCan. That said, it would be nice to see a built in amplifier in it. The amplifier should sound, dark, and detailed. The reason is because, some of the mastering these days are tune to "loudness" and with bright highs, it would be something really unpleasant to listen to. One may argue that the iFi iDSD is designed and used by audiophiles, but if you come to think about it, how many albums out there are perfectly mastered vs not so well mastered. The amount is only getting lesser and lesser in my opinion. "Audiophiles" who crave for perfect neutral and no dark signature would probably have an amplifier to compensate that and they probably just need the iDSD for the high resolution it is capable of.

Next thing is the power output of the amplifier. It don't have to be super powerful. Something that is capable of driving CIEM, IEM and headphone with below 80Ohm impedance. It would be a nice big add to see a powerful amplifier though but just afraid that it would destroy the sales of iFi iCan. The output impedance should be low enough to avoid damping factor with low impedance headphones.

As for features, would be nice to see coaxial out, support optical, 3.5mm line out jack as well as the typical RCA type of line out ( not sure what exactly it is called, but the same line out pattern as iDAC ). 1/4 headphone jack (so that anything can fit in it and maybe iFi Audio can include a 1/8 to 1/4 adapter). Would be delight if the iOS devices can support it without having it the error "draining too much power too! Since Apple now carry iPad 128GB version. It's a good place to put all our music into such beautiful OS. AmpliFlac, and Onkyo Player supports FLAC and high quality resolution respectively which will benefit in iFi Audio iDSD sales

The main reason I recommend adding optical support is mainly because, aside from PC, laptop and iPad/iPhone that we uses as our main source now, there are a lot of recent more friendly priced DAP that audiophiles uses too; for example, X3, X5, DX50 and the upcoming DX90. The FiiO DAP will soon get DSD supports and the optical support should provide a better overall sound quality than the DAP itself so that, audiophiles can listen to their high resolution file with higher quality DAC, which is the iDSD.

Given the low output power of iDSD as compared to iCAN, I doubt the need of gain switch. Also, it would be ideal to put optical, coaxial out, USB port, RCA output and power supply at the back with the XBass and holographic switch at the front together together with 1/4 jack, 3.5mm output and volume control at the front. Please don't put the XBass and holographic switch at the bottom or any switches at the bottom of the device as it may be hard to play with the switch if you put it on the table/desk. If at all, there is the gain switch, put it at the back of the housing.

I was looking at some of the DACs that is flowing in the market and I though it would be nice for iFi Audio to include LED lights somewhere within the housing to indicates the bit rate and sample rate the iDSD is playing. Make it blue in color, if not, allow us to choose the color by playing with the switch at the bottom of the housing. The LED should also tell us on how is the iDSD connected. For example, "USB" and "output" to an external amplifier or connected directly into "headphone" or "speaker" it is also important to have a LED that lights up when the music is playing and the other is when the power is on.